and knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus.

And she brought forth her firstborn son; and she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

as it is written in the law of the Lord: "Every firstborn male shall be called holy to the Lord,"

For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

He is a visible image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation;

He is the head of his Body, the Church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, in order that in all things he may become preeminent.

Again, when he brings in the firstborn into the world he says, "Let all the angels of God worship him."

By faith, he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of the blood, that the destroyer of the firstborn should not touch them.

Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, like Esau, - who, for the sake of one meal, yielded up his own firstborn rights;

to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect,

and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To him who loves us, and freed us from our sins by his blood;